Word.ws English Dictionary

How to use sheer in a sentence

40 example sentences · adjective, adverb, noun

Sheer means very thin or transparent. Example: “Her light, sheer dress caught everyone’s attention.”

Examples of sheer by meaning

adjectiveVery thin or transparent.

  • Her light, sheer dress caught everyone’s attention.
  • “She sheathed her legs in the sheerest of the nylons that her father had brought back from the Continent, and slipped her feet into the toeless, high-heeled shoes of black suède.”1954, Alexander Alderson, chapter 17, in The Subtle Minotaur
  • She was cunningly dressed in a black, sheer gown with gold ornaments showing her figure to perfection.1966, James Workman, The Mad Emperor, Melbourne, Sydney: Scripts, page 53

adjectiveDownright; complete; pure.

  • I think it is sheer genius to invent such a thing.
  • This poem is sheer nonsense.
  • And if the arts of humbleness failed him, he overcame you by sheer impudence.1918, W[illiam] B[abington] Maxwell, chapter II, in The Mirror and the Lamp, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, →OCLC

adjectiveUsed to emphasize the amount or degree of something.

  • The army's sheer size made it impossible to resist.
  • Perhaps as startling as the sheer toll was the devastation to some of the state’s well-known locales.2012 October 31, David M. Halbfinger, “New Jersey Reels From Storm's Thrashing”, in New York Times, retrieved 20 Sep 2021
  • Frank Hoffman, a gynecologist and founder of the program, says he was appalled by the sheer numbers of cases of early-stage breast cancer that were being missed, not just in Germany but around the world.2024 September 8, Kamala Thiagarajan, “Women who are blind play a critical role in identifying possible breast cancers”, in NPR

adjectiveVery steep; almost vertical or perpendicular.

  • It was a sheer drop of 180 feet.

nounA sheer curtain or fabric.

  • Use sheers to maximize natural light.
  • Lightweight, tightly woven silkies, sheers, lingerie1992, Tammy Young, Naomi Baker, Serged Garments in Minutes, page 22

verbTo swerve from a course.

  • Moments later, Courageous sheers out of line, smoke and steam venting through a massive hole in her side, the shells having blasted right through whatever excuse for armor was present and detonated amidst the boiler rooms.2018 October 17, Drachinifel, 15:10 from the start, in Last Ride of the High Seas Fleet - Battle of Texel 1918, archived from the original...

More sentences with sheer

  • The sheer number of warriors the enemy attacked with was unfathomable.From the entry unfathomable
  • With a cry of sheer derring-do, the climber leapt across the chasm.From the entry derring-do
  • He's got to where he is today through sheer hard work and determination.From the entry through
  • Due to the sheer volume of guests, we had to have two sittings for the meal.From the entry sitting
  • It is sheer coincidence that the cartoon resembles the local politician.From the entry coincidence
  • I was knocked back by the sheer size of the hall.From the entry knock back
  • That rumor is nothing but sheer poppycock.From the entry poppycock
  • Through sheer determination, we managed to escape from the tornado.From the entry determination
  • His face was a rictus of sheer delight.From the entry rictus
  • Johnny was an outsider at this year's karate tournament, but he still managed to win second place out of sheer determination.From the entry outsider
  • The sheer graphicness of the violence is shocking.From the entry graphicness
  • Yesterday I happened on the solution while we were seeing a movie on the couch; such things just happen along, by sheer happenstance.From the entry happen on
  • After listening to that sheer pile of bull mess he tried to tell me yesterday, I've decided he's got precisely zero cred as far as I'm concerned.From the entry cred
  • A russet shade of sheer lippy proved the finishing touch to Meghan's latest make-up look.2020 January 9, Annie Vischer, “Meghan Markle’s Latest Make-Up Look Decoded”, in Grazia, London: Bauer Consumer Media, →ISSN, →OCLC…. From the entry lippy
  • The sheer volume of Larry Stylinson erotica available online is astonishing.2018, Kate Leaver, The Friendship Cure: Reconnecting in the Modern World, unnumbered page. From the entry Larry Stylinson
  • Within its sheer walls were the mad, the indebted, those usured into servitude.2017, Michael John Grist, The Saint's Rise. From the entry usure
  • The Astra Militarum achieve their victories through hellstorms of firepower, grinding attrition and sheer dogged determination.2017, Warhammer 40,000, 8th edition, page 68. From the entry hellstorm
  • Both Ben and Karl had to climb down sheer cliffs when they worked as auxiliary coastguards.2016, Gavin Knight, chapter 6, in The Swordfish and the Star: Life on Cornwall’s Most Treacherous Stretch of Coast, London: Vintage…. From the entry St Juster
  • She had worn a soft, sheer malmal sari to sleep in for the night.2015, Tridip Suhrud, translating Govardhanram Madhavram Tripathi, Sarasvatichandra I, Orient BlackSwan 2015, p. 329. From the entry mulmul
  • There are grey Grecian tops and a light, sheer, silver cardigan.2012, Melanie Calvert, Freycinet, page 105. From the entry knit
  • Black sheer blouses with squared bib fronts, and expensive-looking black and dark grey woollen knits.2012, Melanie Calvert, Freycinet, page 105. From the entry knit
  • Perhaps as startling as the sheer toll was the devastation to some of the state's well-known locales.2012 October 31, David M. Halbfinger, “New Jersey reels from storm's thrashing”, in The New York Times, New York, N.Y.: The New York Times…. From the entry buckle
  • He finds a scrabbly trail, a children's entrance up sheer mud.2012, Margaret Atwood, Dancing Girls and Other Stories, →ISBN, page 91. From the entry scrabbly
  • These tubs when derailed had to be lifted on with sheer brute strength.2010, Derek Hollows, Voices in the Dark: Pony Talk and Mining Tales, page 79. From the entry braffin
  • Rubbing its nose in the dirt, the embarrassment it caused, sheer snookery was the message.2010, Ed Lane, A Circling of Vultures, Peterborough, Cambridgeshire: FastPrint Publishing, →ISBN, page 256. From the entry snookery
  • The only thing that keeps me from sheer madness is that Mr.2010, Mary Hanlon Stone, Invisible Girl, Philomel Books, →ISBN, page 193. From the entry Harry Potterish
  • It's amazing—what he lacks in finesse he makes up for in sheer willingness to dorkify himself.2009, Micol Ostow, David Ostow, So Punk Rock: And Other Ways to Disappoint Your Mother, page 97. From the entry dorkify

Meaning of sheer

  1. adjective Very thin or transparent.
  2. adjective Pure in composition; unmixed; unadulterated.
  3. adjective Downright; complete; pure.

Full definition of sheer

Questions about sheer in a sentence

How do you use sheer in a sentence?
Sheer is used as an adjective, adverb and noun. For example: “Her light, sheer dress caught everyone’s attention.”
What is a short sentence with sheer?
“This poem is sheer nonsense.”
What does sheer mean?
Sheer means very thin or transparent.

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: sheer (page history and authors) and the entries each sentence comes from. Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws chose the sentences, left out offensive ones and quotations older than 1900, and marked the word in each. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Cite this page: “How to use sheer in a sentence.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/sentences/sheer. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.